Jim FisherPanasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10An impressive set of specs including a 16x zoom lens, a high-quality touch screen, GPS, and 3D image capture, can’t compensate for the subpar image quality and low-light performance you get with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10.

Poor overall image quality and low-light performance. Slow to start up and shoot.

Bottom Line

An impressive set of specs including a 16x zoom lens, a high-quality touch screen, GPS, and 3D image capture, can’t compensate for the subpar image quality and low-light performance you get with the Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10.

With Panasonic’s Lumix DMC-ZS10 ($379.99 direct) you get plenty of bells and whistles. The 14-megapixel compact point and shoot is built around a 16x Leica DC Vario-Elmar optical zoom lens, covering an expansive 24-384mm (35mm equivalent) field of view. Built-in GPS functionality automatically adds your location to photos, and the DMC-ZS10 can capture 1080i video and 3D images. On paper, it reads like the perfect vacation camera. Plus, you get a big touch-screen LCD. Alas, the ZS10 suffers from some fairly serious image quality issues, which make it tough to recommend—especially for the almost-$400 price.

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Design and FeaturesA good-looking camera, the mid-sized compact feels solid in your hand thanks to a metal body and a small handgrip. Our review unit featured a black finish, but the camera is also available in blue, red, silver, gold, or brown. The Lumix measures 2.3 by 4.1 by 1.3 inches (HWD) and weighs in at 7.7 ounces. It’s about the same size and weight as our Editors’ Choice in this category, the 18x zoom Nikon Coolpix S9100 ($329.95, 4 stars). Because the lens collapses into the body when not in use, it is only two tenths of an inch larger on each side than the Panasonic Lumix DHC-FH27 ($229.95, 2.5 stars), a compact point-and-shoot with an 8x optical zoom.

Rear controls include a standard four-way jog wheel, with an Enter button in the center, which makes it possible to quickly access Macro mode, adjust flash settings, activate the self timer, and adjust EV compensation. A dedicated Exposure Button makes it possible to adjust shutter and aperture values when shooting in Manual, Aperture Priority, or Shutter Priority mode. You’ll find a scene selection wheel, zoom toggle, and shutter release, and a dedicated Video Recording button on the top of the camera.

The back of the camera is dominated by a 3-inch touch-screen LCD with 460,000 dots. The display is sharp and bright enough to see easily on a sunny day. You can use its touch capabilities to perform spot metering and focus, and to fire the shutter. When reviewing images, you have the option to scroll through shots using the jog wheel on the back of the camera or by swiping your finger across the LCD. You’ll have to remember to apply some pressure when you swipe, as the camera doesn’t respond as readily as a touch-screen phone or tablet would.

The camera’s menu system is easy enough to navigate. Large images greet you when you first hit the Menu button. Clicking into them brings up a standard text menu, which is quite easy to read. Menus change based on what shooting mode you are in, so you won’t be able to change functions that only apply to Program Mode if you have the camera set to iAuto.

Using the camera’s 3D photo mode can be a bit tricky at first. It instructs you to depress the shutter and pan the camera left to right over a distance of 4 inches. While you are doing this, the shutter fires repeatedly. This creates a 3D image in MPO format, which can be viewed on compatible 3D TVs and displays. The camera doesn’t do a great job of telling you when you aren’t panning correctly—I was able to set it down on my desk and create a 3D image without moving the camera at all.

You can only take 3D photos at the camera’s widest setting, a 24mm field of view at a 16:9 aspect ratio. This can make 3D compositions tricky, as you’ll really have to stick to a landscape orientation to make viewing on a 3D TV feasible. The camera does do a nice job with 3D separation, with the resulting images having a real feeling of depth when viewed on a 3D TV. It is best used for stationary subjects. In my tests, movement created ghosting in the final images.

The GPS works well, automatically adding location to your photos. It was able to acquire a signal in Manhattan, which can sometimes be tough to achieve. If you use iPhoto, Picasa, or another organizer with built-in support for GPS, your location at the time you took a photo will be easily accessible. You can also paste the coordinates into Google Maps. The GPS does draw some additional power, and in its default mode it pings satellites for a location every 15 minutes, even when the camera is off. An Airplane Mode is available, which only activates the GPS when the camera is powered on.

PerformanceThe ZS10 delivers so-so speed performance. On average, it took about 2.95 seconds to take the first shot after flipping the power switch. And it will not automatically switch to photo mode if it is in playback mode, which could cause even further delay in snapping a photo. The camera averages about 0.73 seconds of shutter lag, and requires you to wait about 1.39 seconds between shots. In contrast, Nikon Coolpix S9100, takes only 1.56 seconds to start up and averages about a half-second of shutter lag. The Coolpix does lag slightly behind in time between shots, clocking in at 1.58 seconds.

In the PCMag lab we used Imatest to objectively evaluate image quality, and the results for the ZS10 were decidedly subpar. In terms of sharpness, the camera delivers a center-weighted average of 1,488 lines per picture height, significantly less than the 1,767 offered by the Nikon S9100. In real world terms, this translates to images with blurry edges that have a look of extreme compression or heavy-handed noise reduction. The GPS-enabled Canon PowerShot SX230 HS ($329.99, 4 stars) fares much better, capturing tack sharp images with 2,195 lines per picture height.

Results aren't much better when it comes to low-light performance. Shooting in less-than-desirable lighting conditions often requires you to increase the camera’s sensitivity to light, which is measured in numerical terms as ISO. Increasing the ISO also tends to add noise in images; more than 1.5 percent, and your image will appear grainy. The ZS10 crosses this threshold by ISO 800. When you combine this with the camera’s relatively slow f/3.3-5.9 zoom lens, your low-light shooting capability is fairly limited. Again, the S9100 takes the crown in this area—it doesn’t start producing noisy images until ISO 3200.

For video, the ZS10 can record 1080i60 HD or 720p30 video in AVCHD format. Even though it’s HD, footage looked a bit soft when viewed on a large HDTV. The plastic look of digital noise reduction is evident, and it’s very difficult to hold a steady shot at longer focal lengths without a tripod. Panasonic includes a Windows video-editing application so that you’ll be able to work with the footage on your PC.

The camera autofocuses when shooting video, and also allows you to zoom in and out. It limits the speed of zooms to ensure smooth, slow changes in perspective. A built-in stereo microphone records audio, and the camera can be connected directly to an HDTV via mini HDMI. The ZS10 records to SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory cards, which can be directly inserted to any computer with a compatible card reader. You also have the option of connecting the camera directly to your PC via its propriety USB interface.

The Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS10 promises big features, and it delivers them, but it falls short on performance. All of the goodies this camera offers including GPS, 3D image and HD video capture, a high-quality touch-screen LCD, and a really fantastic zoom range can’t compensate for the poor quality of its images. Although it lacks GPS, the 18x Nikon Coolpix S9100 remains our Editors’ Choice superzoom camera, delivering better imaging performance all around for $50 less. If GPS is a must-have feature, consider the Canon PowerShot SX230 HS or the Sony Cyber-shot HX5V ($349.99, 4 stars), both of which outperform the ZS10.

Senior digital camera analyst for the PCMag consumer electronics reviews team, Jim Fisher is a graduate of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, where he concentrated on documentary video production. Jim's interest in photography really took off when he borrowed his father's Hasselblad 500C and light meter in 2007. He honed his writing skills at retailer B&H Photo, where he wrote thousands upon thousands of product descriptions, blog posts, and reviews. Since then he's shot with hundreds of camera models, ranging from pocket point-and-shoots to medium format...
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